The present invention relates to pedalling machines, such as scooters, stepping exercise machines and other wheeled machines such as bicycles, tricycles and the like.
This invention also relates to drive arrangements or mechanisms for, in particular, although not necessarily solely, pedalling machines or vehicles similar in form to conventional scooters. The invention may, in some aspects, also apply to bicycles or other similar land-based pedal craft.
Pedalling machines such as stepper or stepping exercise machines are found in many fitness centres. It is desirable that such stepping exercise machines can be configured to combine in synergy the effects of stepping machines and spinning machines which are generally similar to exercise bicycles.
Vehicles such as scooters have existed for a considerable period of time. Throughout that period, the general form of the scooter varied little from the standard construction of a two-wheeled vehicle, a footboard on which a user may stand intermediate of the front and rear wheels and an upright post with handles for steering attached directly to and over the front wheel.
The varied named scooter may well be derived from its conventional driving system of a user standing with one foot on the scooter and the other being used to push the vehicle along its path. To some extent, a drive mechanism for a scooter is inconsistent with the term for the vehicle itself, however, it is to be appreciated that the term xe2x80x9cscooterxe2x80x9d generally applies to vehicles of that basic overall construction.
In providing drive mechanisms for scooters, conventional techniques such as motorized power have been applied. However, considerable difficulty has been experienced in generating any form of pedal-based system for use in scooters.
For example, scooters usually have a low clearance to ground and conventional rotationally based-pedal and craned-mechanisms need to rely on a relatively short-craned length from the centre of drive rotation to the pedal. Trying to generate sufficient power from a cyclic motion in which the radius of the path of the pedal is small is quite difficult. It is substantially more difficult when provided on an item having no conventional seat on which a user may reside.
Indeed, to a large extent, cyclic motion of pedals is difficult without a seat and although this may be performed for a short period on bicycles where the craned length is substantially greater, even on bicycles it is difficult to maintain this for long periods of time.
For these reasons, an alternative manual drive mechanism may be desirable.
It is an object of this invention to provide drive arrangement for pedalling machines such as stepping machines and vehicles such as scooters that may overcome some of the disadvantages of the prior art or at least provide users with a useful choice.
Accordingly, in a first aspect, the invention may broadly be said to consist in a drive mechanism for a vehicle having at least one front and one rear wheel comprising:
a pair of co-axle opposed rotatable crank arms to directly or indirectly drive a wheel of said vehicle;
a pair of rotatably mounted footboards mounted on said vehicle and wherein said footboards are engaged at or adjacent an outer end of said crank arms such that downward pressure on one footboard may cause downward rotation of the connected crank arm; and
wherein the distance between the axis of rotation of the footboards and the axis of rotation of the crank arms is substantially greater than the distance from the centre of rotation of the crank arms to the point of connection with said footboards.
Preferably a drive gear is co-axially mounted with said crank arms to be rotated by rotation of said crank arms.
Preferably said drive gear is connected with an axle of a driven wheel to drive rotation of the wheel of the vehicle.
Preferably said connection to said drive wheel comprises a chain connecting said drive gear with a gear co-axially mounted to said driven wheel.
Preferably said interconnection between said crank arms and said footboards allow movement of the point of connection in the radial direction of extension of the footboards while being substantially fixed in a transverse direction.
In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pedalling machine including:
a main housing,
a pair of co-axially rotable crank members, each of said crank members including a first arm portion extending generally radially from the axis of rotation of said crank members (xe2x80x9csaid Axis of Rotationxe2x80x9d) and a second arm portion extending substantially parallel to said Axis of Rotation from the distal end of said first arm portion, wherein said first arm portions of said crank members being disposed oppositely and diametrically about said Axis of Rotation, and
a pair of pivotally movable footboards both extending from the same side of said Axis of Rotation towards said crank members, each distal end of said footboard being in driving engagement relationship with said second arm portion of the corresponding crank member so that each downward pivotal angular movement of said footboard will bring about movement of said correspond crank member in the same angular direction.
Preferably, the length of each said footboard is longer than the distance between the pivotal axis of said footboard and said Axis of Rotation.
Preferably, said machine further including a drive wheel which is co-axially rotatable with and mounted between said pair of crank members for driving engagement by said crank members.
Preferably, said footboard includes a downwardly dependent member which supports the machine in a tilted upright posture when the second arm portion of the corresponding crank member is at its lowest point in its rotation about said Axis of Rotation.
Preferably, the divergent angle between said pair of footboards is about 36xc2x0.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle including:
A pair of wheels interconnected by a frame.
A drive wheel located intermediate between the axles of said pair of wheels, said drive wheel includes a pair of crank members radially extending from said axle of said drive wheel, each said crank member includes a connecting arm at its distal end which is substantially parallel to said axle of said drive wheel, said pair of crank members being separated by the plane of rotation of said drive wheel.
A transmission link connecting said drive wheel to drive at least one of said pair of wheels.
A pair of footboards separated by the plane of rotation of said drive wheel, each said footboard being pivotable about an axle substantially parallel to the axle of said drive wheel, said connecting arm of said crank member being slidable along at least a portion of the footboard on the same side of said drive wheel, said footboard and said connecting arm being disposed so that downward pivotal movements of said footboard cause sliding and rotation of said connecting arm in a direction to drive said vehicle.
Preferably, one of said pair of wheels is pivotally movable about an axle which is substantially orthogonal to the axle of said wheel for steering.
Preferably, said pairs of footboards and said pair of connecting arms are in alternate driving engagement relationship so that when a connecting arm on one side of said drive wheel is being downwardly driven by a footboard, the footboard on the other side of said drive wheel will be upwardly driven to prepare for the next driving engagement.
Preferably, said transmission link connecting said drive wheel to said at least one of said pairs of wheels includes a mechanism to convert a counter-clockwise rotation of the drive wheel into clockwise rotation of said wheel.
Other aspects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates upon reading the following description and the preferred embodiments disclosed therein.